🤯 Biases.

What brands are investing in most right now, how to deal with customers in the wrong, and more. August 2, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning. Marketers can learn something from con artists. No, no… we don’t mean unethical tricks or scams. We mean psychological principles. We just published a new report on 50 cognitive biases and how to use them in your marketing. So if you’re intrigued, excited, or plain bewildered by the concept, keep reading… E-COMMERCE What digital tools are brands investing in most? [article-image] It’s easy to look at e-commerce and see only lay-offs and cutbacks. But brands aren’t just cutting spending. They’re also optimizing it… According to Modern Retail Research, [e-commerce brands are dropping cash on two technologies]( in particular: third-party marketplaces and AI personalization. - More than 37% of the brands surveyed introduced a third-party marketplace to their online store last year. - Over 36% offer AI recommendations on their website. Nearly half introduced it less than a year ago. - Virtual try-ons, live in-store inventory, and resale have also been popular roll-outs. Why third-party marketplaces? These let you sell products from other brands through your website, without having to develop or ship those products. Instead, a third-party provides the technology so other brands can fulfill orders through your website, and vice-versa. Warming up to AI: Brands are using “You may also like…” sections and similar recommendations to predict user behavior. With algorithms getting smarter, it’s not strange to bank on machine learning as a way to drive more sales and improve customer experience. Why we care: If you’re in e-commerce, this research can give you a sense of what your competition is prioritizing… and maybe what they’re missing. It also shows that some brands are following in the footsteps of big platforms. For example, Pinterest invested big in recommendation platform The Yes just a few months ago. Oh, and speaking of Pinterest… PINTEREST Real-time analytics now available for Pins As if you needed another reason to constantly check your phone... Pinterest just launched [real-time Pin analytics](, and the feature looks super useful. Show me the inspo: Now you can see the latest Pinner activity and check out hourly performance in the “last 24 hours review.” There are limits, though. Real-time data doesn’t extend to audience metrics like “Monthly total engaged audience,” or to age and gender filters. Why we care: Knowing exactly how your pins perform on the go is a useful tool, especially with holidays coming up. Just make sure you don’t react too quickly to the real-time changes. It takes time for Pinterest’s algorithm to optimize your pins! SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO 50 cognitive biases con artists use to trick people—and how you can use them to win customers [article-image]( Why does the “cup and balls” trick work over and over again… even though everyone knows it’s a scam? We decided to research scams like this to find out why they work… … And whether marketers can learn anything from the psychology behind them. Turns out there are 50 cognitive biases that con artists use to win money and sensitive information from unwitting people over and over again. And we found lots of examples of companies leveraging these biases in their marketing. Want to learn how these biases work? You’ll find all the info and marketing examples in our [System 1 Manipulation report](! Note: We’re not encouraging you to trick or scam people. But if you have a legit offer… There are ethical ways to get customers to choose you over the competition. This report is reserved for Stacked Marketer Pro members. And you can try SM Pro for just $7. [Check out the preview of this month’s Pro Report here.]( META 4 tactics to help you cut Facebook app advertising costs [article-image] Promoting a new app on Facebook can be tricky. You’ve got competition, high costs, and privacy updates. Ugh. But with the right mix of tactics, you can still run profitable app campaigns. Madalyn McConnel’s article offers [a handful of useful tips]( for increasing your performance: 1 - Turn on iOS 14+. Facebook needs 50 conversions per week, per ad set to optimize ads for best results—not easy if your customers are Apple users who have opted out of tracking. Enabling the iOS 14+ campaign feature helps you reach everyone on iOS 14 and higher. Yes, that’s a wide net… but it can reduce your cost per install (CPI) in the long run, which is nice. 2 - Use open targeting. Speaking of wide nets… You can go even broader with open targeting, meaning you only target country and age, and leave the rest blank. Facebook will use machine learning to identify users that are likely to convert and deliver ads to their feed. This can also help cut your ad costs. 3 - Use dynamic product ads (DPA). App install campaigns work pretty well with DPAs—or catalog ads—if you can set them up. This ad format pulls items from your product catalog feed and displays them like carousel ads. There’s an option to “hack” this by listing education programs, travel listings, or real estate listings to drive more engagement. 4 - Trust the automation. It sounds scary, but the best thing you can do is let Facebook’s algorithm work together with automation. Make sure you enable these features: - Campaign budget automation (CBO). This will push more of your budget to ad sets that are seeing the best results, which drives down your CPI. - Automatic placements. Similar to CBO, enabling automatic placements favors placements that are getting the best results. - Advantage+ App Campaigns (AAC). This mixes the best ad copy, creative, and audiences. However, with AAC, you’ll have to relinquish control of audience targeting and give it to Facebook. There you go! You’re ready to increase app installs and decrease ad costs. Good luck! SPONSORED BY BLACK CROW AI DTC brands used this to boost their ROAS by more than 25% [article-image]( Need something to lift your ROAS? Well, look under your chair, because you’re sitting on the solution… It’s your own first-party data! And when you combine it with Black Crow AI you can identify your most likely customers and target them directly in Facebook and other channels. See how over 150 e-commerce brands have boosted their ROAS with a [30-day free trial](. [Start increasing your ROAS now.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS What to do when the customer is wrong [article-image] If there’s one thing every marketer knows, it’s that the customer is not always right. Sometimes, the customer can be very wrong… Whether it’s [getting physical over spicy chicken nuggets]( or misunderstanding your product’s purpose. So… what should you do when the customer gets it wrong? Here’s a short insight about how we deal with this in our newsletter: At Stacked Marketer, our main source of revenue is newsletter sponsorships. And as a rule, we write the sponsor copy that appears in our newsletter. It consistently performs better than sponsor-written copy because… well, we’re the ones who also write the rest of the newsletter. Makes sense, right? But sometimes, sponsors don’t like our copy, and they come back with copy edits that we believe can hurt their ad’s performance in our newsletter. In these cases, we share candid feedback about why we think their edits might decrease the ad’s success. But in the end, the sponsor decides the final draft. It’s not helpful to get in a war with a sponsor over this kind of thing. While we give feedback, we don’t force them to go one way or another. So far, this has worked well for us. The Crew’s insight: When you think your customer is wrong, consider the practical benefit of calling them out. What do you have to gain by being aggressive or forceful? Try the gentle route before you do anything serious. It’s not worth risking your reputation in the long-term. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [GROWTH MARKETING:]( Do you want to grow faster? Growth Hacks Weekly will teach you more practical things about marketing than a 4-year $200k degree. It was recently named a “Must-Subscribe-To” newsletter by Forbes and is read by 11,000 people! [Simply click this link to be automatically subscribed for free.](* [MARKETING:]( If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced tough new rules for anyone marketing high-risk investments. And if you’re wondering whether the rules apply to crypto products… They don’t. Yet. [ANALYTICS:]( Good news. You can now create and edit audiences using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) admin API, which means less fuss if you have to migrate a bunch of Universal Analytics audiences. It also comes with audience triggers, too. Nice. [MARKETING:]( You know what you should definitely avoid as a marketer? Buying fake reviews. This article tells consumers how to spot them… and as a bonus, it’s basically a list of what marketers should not do when gathering social proof. [GOOGLE:]( Not seeing the validate fix feature in Search Console? That’s because Google temporarily disabled the option while they’re making updates. Looks like it should be back in a couple of days… *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER David's father has three sons : Snap, Crackle and _____ ? You can find [the answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Is this the world’s most expensive pickle? [article-image] Here’s a brain pickle for you… If someone throws a pickle slice at the ceiling and calls it art… is it art? And is it worth $6,288? Because that’s [how much an artist in New Zealand is charging]( for a piece of art titled “Pickle.” $6K seems like a lot to ask… We’d almost rather buy plane tickets to see this “art” at the Auckland art gallery ourselves. Or do anything else, really. SHARING IS CARING Know what’s easier than asking your boss for more vacation days? Sharing today’s newsletter with other people. It also makes you look insanely well-informed in front of other marketers... and might even help you build rapport with the right executives. Plus, you earn great rewards. Every time you share your custom link—and your friends and coworkers subscribe—you earn points toward exclusive content, merch, and more. Get started by hitting the link below! [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking [here.]( Our postal address: Spectrum IT Solutions GmbH, Canettistrasse 1/Top 0107, 1100 Wien, Austria